Indians Prospect Insider

The Cleveland Indians (82-76) were denied a must-win game by a lopsided 7-1 score at the hands of the Kansas City Royals (86-71) at Progressive Field on Tuesday night. And with that the season is over....well not officially but their elimination number is now one in the wildcard. The IBI's Michael Rich provides his second thoughts on the game...

It was there for the taking. For the team that has clawed their way through a roller coaster of ups and downs all season, the ride just about came to a slow halt for the Indians Tuesday night. Offensive struggles continued and any hopes of a shot at October baseball were all but shattered, as the Tribe scampered to a 7-1 loss against Kansas City. Join IBI Indians beat reporter Jim Berdysz as he recaps another frustrating loss from the ballpark.

With a 7-1 loss to the Royals on Tuesday night, the Indians have all but officially been eliminated from the playoffs. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps the news for the Indians and around the league and notes how the Indians wildcard chances are critical, some GM changes around the league and more.

The Indians 2014 Fall Instructional League is underway out at their spring training and player development complex in Goodyear, Arizona. Camp runs for a little over four weeks and time will be split between on-field workouts, intra-squad games, and games between other local Major League organizations before concluding the second week of October. The IBI's Tony Lastoria gives the 411 on what Instructional League is all about...

You can't win if you can't score. Or can you? At least in one game on Monday, the Indians did just that. Making up the suspended game with the Royals originally played at Kaufmann Stadium back on August 31, the Tribe edged their division rivals for a 4-3 win. However, it was Monday's regularly scheduled game with K.C. that left a bad taste and lasting impact when the night was over.

The Indians suffered a crushing loss on Monday night. Are their playoff hopes all but shattered? In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on the Braves firing general manager Frank Wren, Major League Baseball forming a committee to speed up games, the Mets make a decision on their general manager, and more.

Today marks the beginning of the final week of the regular season in baseball. With seven days of games remaining, there are still several postseason spots up for grabs and still unsettled. One of those spots is the AL Wildcard and the Indians will do their best this week to stay in the race and come out on top. The IBI's Tony Lastoria looks at the playoff outlook for the Indians, the emergence of a strong trio of lefties in the bullpen, some help needed in the right-handed setup role, Kuber's Cy Young campaign and more...

The Indians at least guaranteed themselves a second straight non-losing season on Sunday with their 81st victory of the campaign. Corey Kluber was as good as he's been all season fanning 14 Twins batters over eight innings of work. While he bolstered his Cy Young case, the Indians offense exploded again scoring seven runs for the second day in a row. Join the IBI's Jake Dungan as he recaps the win.

Things are getting a little tight in the AL wildcard race. While the Indians and Yankees are still longshots, they have moved closer to the Athletics, Royals and Mariners and five teams are within 5.0 games of one another as the final week of the season gets underway. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from Sunday around the league...

The WAR Room is back again, bringing you the 2014 advanced stats for every Cleveland minor leaguer. With the minor league seasons at an end, we continue bringing you seasons in review, with today's featuring the 2014 Lake County Captains. This week Jim Piascik focuses on the Captains' pitchers, including their strong trio of starting pitchers in Mitch Brown, Adam Plutko, and Luis Lugo. Join Jim as he recaps the 2014 Captains pitchers and takes you into The WAR Room.

After a late-inning bullpen collapse on Friday, the bullpen pulled through on Saturday. Delivering nine strikeouts in its four innings of work, the pen securely closed the 7-3 win that the offense, powered by Yan Gomes's 20th home run, provided in otherwise lopsided fashion. The IBI's John Grimm discusses T.J. House, whose process stats tell the story of a pitcher whose nascent major league success appears entirely sustainable.

This weekly feature piece here at the IBI specifically looks at some of the prospects that have maybe not had as much attention they deserve for a variety of reasons but who are interesting or are coming onto the scene. This week the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at right-handed pitcher D.J. Brown, a versatile arm in High-A who can start or relieve. What kind of prospect is he? What does he throw? What kind of future does he have? Tony provides all the details...

On September 19th, 2013, Cleveland began a ten-game winning streak that propelled Cleveland to its first playoff game since 2007. This September 19th, however, no such magic arose, and Cleveland fell to Minnesota in the 10th. Defining the game was an extreme and aggressive use of relievers, with 8 relief pitchers used to complete the final ten outs. The IBI's John Grimm discusses both the Indians' exceptionally aggressive bullpen use in the context of a game becoming increasingly reliever-heavy.

Can you believe the season is almost over? In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on the Twins shutting down Glen Perkins, Terry Francona setting a new American League record, a number of teams are interested in Yasmani Tomas, and more.

Fans of the Cleveland Indians are surely disappointed as the team stumbled mightily in the first two weeks of September, a month which proved so successful for them in last season’s torrid sprint to the playoffs. But no matter what happens the rest of the way, the IBI's John Mast believes that there is a lot to be excited about in the very near future with the Indians.

Danny Salazar extended the brilliant stretch of pitching by the Tribe starting rotation with seven and a third one-run innings, but did not earn a decision as the Indians would not rally until the ninth inning to tie the game at one and wouldn't pull ahead until the 13th frame on a Mike Aviles sacrifice fly. Join the IBI's Jake Dungan as he discusses the extra-innings win as well as the resurrected playoff hopes.

It's the new iPhone release day! Did you wait in line to get one? In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andrew Zajac will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on Ron Washington's reasoning for leaving the Rangers, possible candidates to replace Washington in Texas, which clubs have the biggest trade deadline regrets, and more.

In today's Minor Happenings, the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at the astounding rise of Tony Wolters into a legit Major League catcher. He provides lots of insight into his improvements defensively and why there should not be too much focus on his offense right now. He also goes into detail about Giovanny Urshela and his rise to legitimacy in the organization, what he improved on this season and how he fits into things going forward, looks at the outfield transition for Dorssys Paulino, Bradley Zimmer's excellent approach to hitting, notes some players that are heading to winter ball, and more.

On Tuesday, Corey Kluber struck out a career high 14 Astros over seven innings. It was yet another outstanding performance by one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. However, it’s Carlos Carrasco, not Kluber, who has been the team’s best pitcher since August, and he showed it with a dominating complete shutout in the Indians 2-0 win on Wednesday. The IBI's Michael Goodman shares the details...

The Indians made some news on Wednesday night before and during the game. Before the game it was learned that they will be moving their High-A affiliate from Carolina to Lynchburg for the 2015 season. As for the game itself, Carlos Carrasco was masterful in a complete game shutout win that made history. The IBI's Jay Frierson shares the news and notes from the around the league...

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!